Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Hello everyone! What are your plans for New Years Eve? I'll be hanging out with a huge bunch of church friends for the night celebrating the past year and looking forward to a brand new 2014 :)

I've decided to go with a casual black for this year's nail look, coupled with some gold and silver accents. I stamped the number image from BM-311 for the countdown we'll definitely be doing closer to midnight.

I used Ulta3 Black satin as a black base. OPI Haven't the foggiest is the silver, OPI My favorite ornament the gold glitter and OPI Pure 18k white gold and silver top coat is layered on my index.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Hello everyone :) Today I have two beautiful shades from Orly's Blush collection to share with you. I don't know about you, but I find these softer shades to be such great palette cleansers after wearing the bolder and brighter summer shades.

First up I have Cheeky, a light coral with beautiful gold shimmer. The orange undertone clashes horribly with my skin tone but I really don't mind when Cheeky looks this good! This was two coats.

Naked canvas is a little deceiving when photographed. It may look like just another plain off-white crème, but it actually has an almost hidden purple shimmer running throughout it. It's definitely more apparent in real life than in photos. Two coats were applied.

There are another four nail polishes in the Blush collection:

Classic contours: A mauve crème.

First blush: A hot pink crème.

Dare to bare: Musk pink crème.

Flawless flush: Lilac shimmer.

This collection will be available in Australia February 2014 from www.orlybeauty.com.au. Each bottle will retail for $18.95.

Are you a fan of these delicate shades? Which ones will you be picking up?

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Hi ladies~ Recently, Covergirl released a new limited edition collection here in Australia. Outlast Stay Brilliant Glosstinis is a line of mini nail polishes which feature eight summery shades - and they are right up my alley right now!

Pina colada is a pastel yellow. I applied three coats to even out the typical yellow-polish-syndrome (i.e. streaky application).

Lemon drop is a bright sunny yellow. This was two coats and was tricky to apply. Application was just a little bit better than Pina colada though.

Sangria is a bright orange shade. It's very bold and bright! I applied two thin coats here.

Covergirl says that this range of nail polishes are only one coaters and require no top coats; however, you will definitely find that the yellow shades require at least two coats, if not three. Yellows are notorious for their streaky behaviour, so this wouldn't have been a big deal otherwise - Covergirl claims these polishes to be one coaters and that is definitely not the case for these polishes.

The Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Glosstinis is now available in Priceline, Target, Kmart, Big W and selected pharmacies across Australia. This is a limited edition line so if you see anything which catches your eye, definitely grab a hold of them now! Each bottle retails for $4.95.

Do you see anything you need, or do you already own something similar?

Friday, December 27, 2013

Hi ladies! What more can I say when I put purple and holographic nail polishes together? ;) I used Bourjois 2007 1 Seconde nail enamel as the base purple shade. On my ring and middle fingers, I used China Glaze OMG. This design was inspired by La paillette frondeuse and I much more prefer her version :P

I also layered a coat of Glitter Gal Galaxy holo top coat over the other nails - I actually quite like the look of it here! Maybe I need to find some good base shades to pair it with :P

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Hi everyone~ Merry Christmas! I've been spending my day stuffed with bbq food, what about you? For today, I've come up with a Christmas skittled nail look - it's simple, but effective at the same time :)

Pinky: Two coats of China Glaze Poinsettia. Glitter gradient created with Shimmer Polish Candace.
Ring: Two coats of OPI Servin' up sparkle.
Middle: Two coats of Ulta3 lily white. The tree was created using China Glaze Holly-day.
Index: Two coats of Ulta3 black satin. I layered Candace over it.
Thumb: Two coats of Holly-day and then created a glitter gradient with Shimmer Polish Kelly.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Hello ladies ^^ There's only one more sleep until Christmas! This year I have relatives from overseas over so we're going to be having a huge barbecue. Which also means I haven't had much time creating Christmas nails as I've become a busy host :P

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Hello :) Here is a quick post featuring a simple purple & gold skittle look I wore a while back. The purple is Nicole by OPI Love song and the gold Hello Kitty Golden girl. I added a pearl and some bullion beads for a more blingy accent nail and created a glitter gradient with Essence Make it golden.

What do you do when you want to dress up your nails a bit more than a plain colour, but feel a bit too lazy to do so? :P

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Hi ladies! Australian nail polish brand Glitter Gal recently launched two new collections with an Australian theme. I have She's cactus from the Celebrate - Sydney Style collection to share with you today. The name She's cactus is actually Australian slang for 'something dead or broken'.

The green shade is bright and almost leans on neon. It's definitely not something I normally would pick up, but I'm glad to have it in my stash now :) This was two coats and sealed with Glitter GalGloss Boss, which is super shiny and super quick drying.

I decided to layer over a coat of Galaxy holo top coat to add some rainbow sparkles. I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the holographic effect - it's definitely not as in your face as I would have liked! It's more subtle and definitely adds interest to an otherwise 'plain' manicure. I might add a second coat next time and see if that makes a difference.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Hi everyone :) You may remember my base glitter sandwich manicure from a previous post. I used OPI My vampire is buff and created the glitter sandwich with OPI Polka.com and Flormar #20. I decided to create a one stroke flower nail art look aver it using some acrylic paint but wasn't too sure about the end result. Which is partly why it took me so long to publish this post :P

I'm not 100% liking the way the flowers came out; my one stroke painting definitely needs more practice. Have you tried this technique before?

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Hello ladies. It's a little sad that I always skim over my A-England nail polishes- how is it possible that I can forget how gorgeous these holographic polishes are? Whenever I pull one out to wear, I am instantly reminded of its beauty.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Hello hello :) I decided to go for a darker nail shade despite the warm weather (who says we can't wear dark shades in summer? :P) and pulled out OPI Incognito in Sausalito. I then added a glitter gradient at the tips using Ulta3 Pot of gold.

Sometimes, a simple glitter gradient does the trick ;) What do you think?

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Hi ladies! What to do when in the mood for some blinged out nails? Why, dig out all the 3D accessories you own and go to town with them :D

I started this manicure with two coats of Australis Peek-a-boo. It's a very camera shy shade and leans way too blue in photos than it is in real life. It's definitely more of a blurple. On my ring and index fingers, I added a glitter gradient using Nicole by OPI Inner sparkle.

My nails were super bumpy, but definitely blingy ^^ Are you a fan of this type of excessive 3D nail art?

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Hi everyone! ^^ Here is a very simple and unintentionally Christmassy nail look I wore a couple of weeks back. I started with two coats of China Glaze Don't make me wine and China Glaze Goldie but goodie on my middle finger. I then stamped stamped with BM-406 and Goldie but goodie on my ring finger.

I'm not usually a holiday-themed-nail-art person, so I can't guarantee there'll be any more Christmas nails :P Unless some sort of inspiration strikes!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Hello there :) I have always wanted to stamp the rose image from BM-306. so I finally pulled it out and paired it with a double accent look.

When I first thought of this manicure, I had intended to use a coral shade. At the last minute, I decided to pull out OPI Call me Gwen-ever instead and paired with the black, making it kind of look more like a Halloween manicure. Oops! :P

The silver is OPI Haven't the foggiest, which I also used to stamp with over Ulta3 black satin. I tied in the look with some black studs on my pinky and index.

It's a little Halloween looking, but I still liked how it came together so well :) What do you think?

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Hi ladies! I am super excited to share with you all an amazing news - Polish Infatuated is featured on Italian nail magazine Love Nails! As a nail blogger, there is no greater reward than for another person to appreciate the time and effort I put into each of my manicures.

This is the November/December issue :)

Love Nails really showed me they truly valued my work not only by giving me the opportunity to share my nail polish passion with their Italian readers, but also through the carefully researched questions asked in the interview. There is no greater appreciation than to know a company has taken the time to read through my archives rather than to simply scan my most current posts.

The questions were presented to me in English and the editors of Love Nails translated my response into Italian. I have included the original English translation of the article.

Dear Sharon, first of all let us welcome you on Love Nails. You told us it all began with a black nail polish? Why this color and what you wanted to do with it?

For a period of time, I was really intrigued with the black nail look – I thought it looked really chic. Plus everywhere I looked, someone seemed to be sporting black nails so naturally, I had to as well ;). Funnily enough, the black nail polish I ended up buying had a golden shimmer in it, but I loved it so much and wore it so often that I only had half a bottle left by the end of my one month holiday!

Your first nail art attempts focused on managing the marble technique. You admitted to be quite messy because it’s not a stranger freindly nail look. What would you suggest to our readers to start with? Which are the easiest colors and textures to handle?

I would definitely recommend going with a simpler nail art technique. Something I find relatively easy to start off with is painting simple flowers – the basic ones are literally just five dots! All you need is a rounded end like the end of a bobby pin. Of course, you can also invest in some dotting tools, they’re very cheap and easy to find on Ebay. In terms of colours and textures, I would recommend going with lighter crème finish shades. They tend to be more forgiving if mistakes are made and can be easily erased.

Your nail blog features nail looks and swatches. Why do you think bloggers mainly concentrate on this two issues and why are they so important?

Nail painting has become more than a hobby of mine – it is also a way for me to relax and unwind after a long day at work and it is something which I find many other bloggers agree with. Sitting down and thinking of a new nail art look to create for my nails takes my mind off other things and it’s so satisfying to see a pretty result when I’m done :).

When I post swatches of nail polishes, I know I am providing someone with an idea of what the nail polish will look like when worn on the nails. Often nail shades do not show their true potential until it is worn and so the swatches can give so much information on whether someone might want to buy the bottle of nail polish or not. I know for myself that I always search online for a swatch before purchasing a new bottle of nail polish.

We noticed you are very into skittle nail art. In Italy it’s a kind of taboo. Why would you recomend it and could you disclose some good tips?

Oh no, that’s so sad to hear! I think skittle nails are so easy to create, especially if you have an eye for matching shades. I’d definitely recommend it because you can put so many different nail art techniques into one manicure. It’s also really fun to create a ‘tied together’ look with different colours and finishes. If it seems like too much though, I think a baby step in that direction would be to start with accent nails, where only one nail (usually the ring finger) is different to the other four. They’re also pretty trendy right now and I’m seeing more and more women sporting this look.

What do you think is the current trend?

With Spring coming up here in Australia, I have found many simple pastel looks being sported. A number of my friends have also started to try on textured nail polishes, enjoy the different finish it dries to on the nail.

Would you suggest to our readers some cool nail salons, web sites or nail blogs you follow?

I am a huge fan of Instagram! Simply search up #nailart and you will be bombarded with a whole heap of creative looks to wear on your nails. It is here where I discover many talented ladies and become inspired with new ideas.

Thank you Love Nails for the opportunity to be featured on your magazine! It has been a great honour to share my passion with a similar audience in Italy.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Hi ladies. Today, I have the distinct pleasure to share with you some of the nail polishes included in OPI's Gwen Stefani collection. (Check out part 2 here.)

First up, I have Love. Angel. Music. Baby. This is a satin gold with a little silver shimmer flecks. I applied two coats and it still looks a little thin on some nails, so it definitely would have benefited from a third coat.

Here it is with a glossy top coat over it. The photo doesn't show a great difference, but the glossy nature is more apparent in real life.

Next is Over & over a-Gwen, a medium red shade which totally screams Gwen! Two easy and opaque coats, but beware this one may stain if you don't wear a base coat. I only had this on for a short time while swatching, but my nails were left with a red tint after I removed it.

Finally, here is In true Stefani style, a pretty silver glitter concoction made up of square shaped glitter pieces mixed with smaller holographic pieces. I layered one coat over Over & over a-Gwen.

The Gwen Stefani collection will be hitting stores in January 2014. Australian ladies can find them in David Jones and selected salons. Myer will also be stocking the collection later in the season. Each bottle retails for $19.95.

Are you excited for this collection? What shades do you think you may have to get? ;)